News and Articles

There is a great deal of interest in what the authorities and the medical community are doing about the opiate crisis in America. In her presentation as part of the Williamsburg Place Lecture Series, Martha E. Early, Ph.D., assistant professor for family and community medicine at Eastern Virginia Medical School, gave an overview of the ongoing epidemic and how medical professionals and lawmakers are reacting to it.

Are certain eating disorders basically food addictions comparable to substance use disorders (SUDs) such as alcoholism or heroin abuse? That is the question discussed by Marty Lerner, Ph.D., in his presentation as part of the Williamsburg Place Lecture Series. Lerner is a licensed and board-certified clinical psychologist who specializes in the treatment of eating disorders. He is the CEO of Milestones In Recovery in Florida.

American teens and young adults appear to be struggling with mental health issues in increasing numbers. According to research published by the American Psychological Association, the percentage of teens and young adults with depression, anxiety and other mental health problems has increased dramatically over the past decade—a pattern not seen in older adults.

An estimated 16 million people in the United States have an alcohol use disorder (AUD), according to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. “Approximately 6.2 percent or 15.1 million adults in the United States ages 18 and older had AUD in 2015. This includes 9.8 million men and 5.3 million women. Adolescents can be diagnosed with AUD as well, and in 2015, an estimated 623,000 adolescents ages 12–17 had AUD.”

Alcohol Awareness Month is an opportunity for all people across America to increase awareness and understanding of alcohol addiction, its causes, effective treatment methods, and recovery. It is an opportunity to work on overcoming stigma and misconceptions about alcohol use disorder (AUD) in order to bring down barriers to treatment and recovery for those who suffer from this disease.

“All across the United States, individuals, families, communities, and health care providers are struggling to cope with the impacts of the opioid crisis,” wrote US Surgeon General Jerome Adams in a recent Spotlight on Opioids. “The use of illegal opioids such as heroin—a highly addictive drug that has no accepted medical use in the United States—and the misuse of prescription opioid pain relievers can have serious negative health effects.”

Suicide is a leading cause of death in the US, reported the Centers for Disease and Prevention (CDC) in 2018. “Suicide rates increased in nearly every state from 1999 through 2016. Mental health conditions are often seen as the cause of suicide, but suicide is rarely caused by any single factor,” stated the CDC report.

The 2018 Annual Surveillance Report of Drug-Related Risks and Outcomes by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention paints a grim picture of the continuing drug overdose crisis sweeping the United States.

Nearly one in four active-duty service members had at least one prescription for an opioid at some point in 2017, according to Defense Department data reported in the Military Times. That compares to more than 17 percent of all Americans who had at least one opioid prescription filled in 2017.